In 1896, down in the
Victorian countryside, a rich merchant
is taken by coach to a remote inn, along
with a woman he has paid to come with him
and are greeted at the inn by a strange
old couple named Caroline (Judith
Anderson) and Lazar (Joseph Furst). While
in bed they appear to die horribly. It turns out
the coach driver is in cahoots with the
owners of the inn to kill and rob wealthy
travellers.
Later on many other residents stay at the
inn and end up disappearing as people
check in but don't check out as there are
deadly traps for anyone who resides
there.
A bounty hunter named Cal Kinkaid (Alex
Cord) goes to the inn and to discover it
and looks for clues there but yet he may
be the next deadly victim there as
Caroline and Lazar wants him dead as
well.
At first the makers tried to look like a western
flick with all the settings involved like
in the opening with people in a rush
riding some horses carrying them in a
passenger carriage as well as the small
town and the going on's there. Impressive camera shots on all of this and the scenery looked great too.
An average moment with Caroline and her family discussing at a a table eating on what their plan is as this looked mildly mysterious and twisted in which you get a feeling that it isn't going to be anything good at all.
A good fighting
sequence between Cal Kinkaid and Biscayne in a river near a fall. Alot of great horse chasing scene's which looked powerfully done as it totally looked like a spaghetti western flick. The moments were powerful by how the fighting went on too.
Perfect murdering moments in the hotel suite with great wide eyed expressions from the victims as this was a nice impression to lead off to a horror story as well as the killers not revealing themselves just yet.
Plus we get the odd humoress moments involving one of the characters named George Parr with what is happening. Also a good dark moment with him being pitted against the nasty Cal as well as an almost shocking moment on what he is about to do with his dog as this keeps you in shocking suspense.
We see great camera shots on Biscayne, George Parr and Trooper Moore with their shocked and frightened looks
when Cal is about to shoot Biscayne as it was in slow motion. Also perfect peer pressuring moments beforehand when Biscayne himself wonders if he should shoot this jack ass or not. This was done in good taste.
We also have a good shot on Caroline Straulle looking like she is
cradling a baby which is really a doll
and then nearly losing her mind when she
goes through a flashback memory as
there's a nice flashback scene involving
two children being
terrorised and killed by a maniac. The moments here looked good and still which also leads to more horror especially the beginning of the flashbacks seeing someone hollering with a perfect close up on the eyes and mouth. A nice beginner for sure in this sequence.
An effective twisted moment with a mother and full grown daughter having a bath together to clean up as well as the mother acting nearly violent as things were quite intense when we see all of this happening.
There's also a great shot on Lazar Straulle when he is stabbing someone
and going crazier when he isn't dead yet
and then bringing down an axe as that
introduces the horror in this film.
However it does look slightly conry and a little over the top when we continue to watch this as well as this moment could've seemed a bit darker too.
Yet a good twisted moment when Caroline is talking to some mysterious figures with candles lit as you get the feeling she's talking to dead bodies as this for sure looked dark and twisted.
The camera pans well on Cal when
he is looking around his hotel suite
looking for traps or deadly devices and
then sits in a chair with a shotgun
waiting for the maniacs to arrive in his
room while Caroline and Lazar are downstairs waiting for his death to
happen as the setting was perfect. However the story seems to drag and should've been cut a bit shorter.
We see a great shot on Lazar about to enter the suite holding an axe
with a shadow reflection on him and then
there's a fairly decent battling scene.
Bottom line: At first this film
seems like a western with some mystery in
it as it takes almost forever to get to
the horror in it and then the horror
sometimes gets interesting as we have
some dark moments. This film didn't really go anywhere at
all as it was just someone looking for
some clues and then the film was almost
over when the horror started. Still, it had some interesting moments.
It was kind of a western take on Psycho.
The cast seems to
perform quite well although many aren't
household names but why does that matter? Judith Anderson (Caroline Straulle) does her job quite passable as a disturbed hotel owner in which she has a good trembling voice along with reacting strangely and disturbed on other stuff. She for sure offers a nice mysterious persona to her character and grabs your attention while watching her perform in this one.
The best actor is Alex Cord (Cal Kinkaid) as a
nasty bad ass and stern Sherrif who is
terrific at being intimidating and shows
great anger too. He played a great
western type of character. Does very well
with his nasty attitude towards many
suspects especially to a certain person when he steps on his hand
forcing him to tell the truth about
someone he's after. Plus does a good dominating and aggressive behavior when pitted against someone else with a gun. Does a good job trying to act fully alert when he plans to put a stop to the killer in his hotel room and trying to stay awake as he relates to this scene nicely.
Joseph Furst (Lazar Straulle) seemed a bit rough in his part of the film as he was supposed to be someone demented and disturbed as well but is a little too over the top as well as not doing the trick by being intense and tries too hard by being this way. Shows okay energy when struggling against someone with a gun near the end of his performance. He needed a bit of inspiration by what he did here.
Tony Bonner (Trooper Moore) seemed quite stiff in his performance as to me he was basically just delivering his lines and having a very rough time getting into character. He seemed to shine off well onto the camera but a character actor he was not. Oh well.
John Meillon (George Parr) brought humor to his
role as a moonshiner who was another
performer who did well with his role and
had the perfect looks too. He was probably my favourite amongst the cast mentioned here and acting lively within whatever he did here. Seemed to play a likeable role and showed that off quite well.
Supporting actor Robert Quilter (Biscayne) seemed
to do well as an insane one responsible
for alot of bad things going on and being
a target for the law. He really knew on how to act someone who's mentally unstable and just acts perfectly wild and crazy as this looked highly energetic. Had the perfect looks for this part too and was cinvincing as a crazed misfit.
Linda Broan exposes
her breasts in bed at the Inn as she
portrays a hooker.
Carla Hoogeveen and Diana
Dangerfield are two actresses as
well playing residents at a hotel room as
they are fully breasted too in bed or
taking a bath together.
There are some
bloodied corpses but that's it.
Bob Young
definetely gives the film a nice western
sound to it with the harmonica playing
along with the accoustic guitar and
violin music but then has nice ghostly
sounds for the horror in the film too as this really shows off greatly. Plus we hear a woman's harmonising voice which was a great plus to a western sound and great timing within this. Also we have some good high sounding synthesizer music for when someone tries to fool the hotel owners on staying the night there so he can plan to put an end to it all as it fits in perfectly.
Cal
Kincaid: Oh and can you close the
door please I don't want Peaches here to
get cold |
